Laser turns of during straight lines

Zandr

@dc42 hi i have now installed the latest beta firmware and i am having the same issue it will blink on at the start of the line but wont stay on until the line of g code finishes. I ran another test witht the circle and found that if i slow my travel speed down it will fire for every line of code like a pulse not a continus beam. Thanks for your help.

Zandr

Hi should i try and increse the frequency from 200 to 2000? On the jtech controler website the max control frequency is 5 KHz? Thank you in advance.

dc42

I will look into this tomorrow. Can you confirm that you have connected the laser controller + and - control signal input terminals to the heater +VIN and E1- outputs on the E1 terminal block? Does the laser run continuously if you connect those control wires to the VIN terminal block (or an always-on fan output) instead?

Zandr

I have the + in the E1- and the - in an end stop ground. if i connect the + to the VIN on the Heater E1 the laser stays on permanently but will blink off for a second if i send an M3 S255 command. I can invert the signal from the controller as it has an invert / non invert pin.
Should i wire it the way you have described " laser controller + and - control signal input terminals to the heater +VIN and E1- outputs on the E1 terminal block"
It could be the way i have wired it stopping it working as it should but wont know til i am home from work at 5pm GMT

dc42

@zandr said in Laser turns of during straight lines:

Should i wire it the way you have described " laser controller + and - control signal input terminals to the heater +VIN and E1- outputs on the E1 terminal block"

Yes. The datasheet you linked to says the control input can be anywhere between 2.8V and 36V and it is digitally isolated, so that should be safe to do. Set the inversion on the laser controller so that when the E1 heater LED is off, the laser is off too. Then set the I parameter in the M452 command to get the on/off signal right (I0 should be correct).

That appears to be a good laser controller, better than the usual ones with TTL compatible inputs.

Zandr

Thank you i will give it a shot what should i set the Frequency value at?

Zandr

I am also having an issue when homing z in laser mode should i start a new help topic?

dc42

@zandr said in Laser turns of during straight lines:

Thank you i will give it a shot what should i set the Frequency value at?

I suggest around 2kHz.

I am also having an issue when homing z in laser mode should i start a new help topic?

Yes.

Zandr

hi again @dc42 i have set my laser up like you described but still have the issue where the laser blinks at the start of the line but wont stay on until the move has finished.
I have wired it laser controller + to the VIN and the - control signal input terminalE1- outputs on the E1 terminal block.
changed the laser settings to this:

; LASER SETTINGS
M307 H2 A-1 C-1 D-1 ; disable heater 2 to make it available as a general purpose output pin
M452 P2 I0 R255 F2000

still running this line g code
G21
M03 S0
G0Z0.0010
G0X0.0000Y0.0000
G0X14.3143Y50.0000Z0.0010
M3 S200
G1X83.3143Z-0.0010F1000.0 S200
M05
G0Z0.0010
G0X0.0000Y0.0000

I also put another m3 s200 comand before the m5 comand and the laser flashes when it reaches the end of the line move, it is as if the m3 comand is not latching on to continue to provide power until it reaches the end of the line move/ or the m5 comand.

Zandr

I did some more tests thismorning, the only way to get a line is for me to enter g code for every 1 mm move and the laser will fire for every line of code. This is silly to do for a straight line hope u agree. I can draw a circle with the laser as there are multiple lines of code to form the circle. Hope this info helps in some way.

dc42

So far I have not been able to reproduce this. Please provide your complete config.g and homing files.

Zandr

Config G
; General preferences
G90 ; Sent absolute coordinates

; Network
M550 PWorkBee CNC Machine ; Set machine name
M552 S1 ; Enable network
M586 P0 S1 ; Enable HTTP
M586 P1 S0 ; Disable FTP
M586 P2 S0 ; Disable Telnet

; Drives
M569 P0 S0 ; Drive 0 goes forwards
M569 P1 S1 ; Drive 1 goes forwards
M569 P2 S0 ; Drive 2 goes forwards
M569 P3 S1 ; Drive 3 goes forwards
M584 X0 Y1:3 Z2 ; Apply custom drive mapping
M92 X400 Y400 Z400 ; Set steps per mm
M350 X16 Y16 Z16 I1 ; Configure microstepping with interpolation
M566 X500 Y500 Z500 ; Set maximum instantaneous speed changes (mm/min)
M203 X2500 Y2500 Z2500 ; Set maximum speeds (mm/min)
M201 X150 Y150 Z150 ; Set accelerations (mm/s^2)
M906 X2400 Y2400 Z2400 I100 ; Set motor currents (mA)

; Axis Limits
M208 X0 Y0 Z0 S1 ; Set axis minima
M208 X800 Y770 Z94 S0 ; Set axis maxima

; Endstops
M574 X2 Y2 Z2 S0 ; Set active low endstops

; LASER SETTINGS
M307 H2 A-1 C-1 D-1 ; disable heater 2 to make it available as a general purpose output pin
M452 P2 I0 R255 F200

; Tools

; Custom settings

M564 H0 ; Enable jog commands when not homed
M140 H-1 ; Disable heated bed
M501 ; Load Stored Parameters
M563 P1 S"XYZ-Probe" ; Define XYZ Touch Probe Tool

Home All
; homeall.g
; called to home all axes
;
; generated by RepRapFirmware Configuration Tool on Mon Mar 12 2018 16:19:25 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time)
G91 ; relative positioning
G1 H1 Z94 F900 ; move quickly to Z axis endstop and stop there (first pass)
G1 Z-3 F2400 ; go back a few mm
G1 H1 Z94 F300 ; move slowly to z axis endstop once more (second pass)
G1 H1 X1500 Y1500 F2400 ; move quickly to X and Y axis endstops and stop there (first pass)
G1 X-3 Y-3 F2400 ; go back a few mm
G1 H1 X1500 Y1500 F300 ; move slowly to X and Y axis endstops once more (second pass)
G90 ; absolute positioning

Home x
; homex.g
; called to home the X axis
;
; generated by RepRapFirmware Configuration Tool on Mon Mar 12 2018 16:19:25 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time)
G91 ; relative positioning
G1 H1 Z94 F900 ; move quickly to Z axis endstop and stop there (first pass)
G1 Z-3 F2400 ; go back a few mm
G1 H1 Z94 F300 ; move slowly to z axis endstop once more (second pass)
G1 H1 X1500 F2400 ; move quickly to X and Y axis endstops and stop there (first pass)
G1 X-3 F2400 ; go back a few mm
G1 H1 X1500 F300 ; move slowly to X and Y axis endstops once more (second pass)
G90 ; absolute positioning

Home y
; homey.g
; called to home the Y axis
;
; generated by RepRapFirmware Configuration Tool on Mon Mar 12 2018 16:19:25 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time)
G91 ; relative positioning
G1 H1 Z94 F900 ; move quickly to Z axis endstop and stop there (first pass)
G1 Z-3 F2400 ; go back a few mm
G1 H1 Z94 F300 ; move slowly to z axis endstop once more (second pass)
G1 H1 Y1500 F2400 ; move quickly to X and Y axis endstops and stop there (first pass)
G1 Y-3 F2400 ; go back a few mm
G1 H1 Y1500 F300 ; move slowly to X and Y axis endstops once more (second pass)
G90 ; absolute positioning

Home z
; homez.g
; called to home the Z axis
;
; generated by RepRapFirmware Configuration Tool on Mon Mar 12 2018 16:19:25 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time)
G91 ; relative positioning
G1 H1 Z94 F1500 ; move quickly to Z axis endstop and stop there (first pass)
G1 Z-3 F2400 ; go back a few mm
G1 H1 Z94 F300 ; move slowly to Z axis endstop once more (second pass)
G90 ; absolute positioning

Zandr

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bvmhu6aodccqmqt/Video 25-03-2019%2C 4 32 20 pm.mov?dl=0

Added a video hope this helps also. If you look between 20 and 30s into it you can see where i have tried to do a simple HI text and the straight lines within the text dont complete, i will do another video showing that.

Thank you

whosrdaddy

I don't know if it makes a difference but you did not home your axes in your video, maybe try homing them first?

Zandr

@whosrdaddy thank you but i homed before i started just didnt show it in the video and then set the work once and then realised i coudent get a good video so moved and set work zero again. Thanks tho

Zandr

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nmfwcr52qj705u3/Video 25-03-2019%2C 7 41 59 pm.mov?dl=0

Circles work ok 1000mm/min

Zandr

https://www.dropbox.com/s/85r4dxatwe89pzq/Video 25-03-2019%2C 7 54 05 pm.mov?dl=0

Same circle at 20mm/min is it corect that it should flick on and off? Per g1 move

dc42

I still can't reproduce the problem you describe, but I've found an error in your GCode. You have this in config.g:

M208 X0 Y0 Z0 S1 ; Set axis minima

The relevant commands in your GCode file are:

G0 X14.3143 Y50.0000 Z0.0010
M3 S200
G1 X83.3143 Z-0.0010 F1000.0 S200

The last G1 command has endpoint Z=-0.0010 but you have set the Z minimum to zero. So that command is to an out-of-bounds position and it won't be executed. You should get an error message in the console.

Zandr

@dc42 yep i get an error only when i dont drop my z down after it has been homed so home z, drop z down by about 15 then set work zero then i run the g code.

Do you have a g code you would like me to try ?

Shall remove the z comands and see if it will work?

Zandr

@dc42 did you view the videos they show my issues?